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IRVINE, Calif. — By day, Theresa Flores spent her teenage years attending school and living in an upper-middle class suburb of Detroit. By age 15, the dark cover of night brought unthinkable bondage after she was drugged, raped and tortured. She was kept in bondage for two years, Theresa was forced to pay back an impossible debt only to be called into “service” late each night while her unknowing family slept. She followed their order to keep her family safe. Back at school she would silently sit alongside her abusers, her own peers.
Flores will share her story and the ramifications of human trafficking in America during the 7th annual Preventing Abuse Conference, to be held Sept. 11 to 13 at the Irvine Hilton Hotel.
In addition to human trafficking, issues of child abduction, pornography, sexting, Internet predators, sexualization of the American culture, securing the borders and terrorists, which use porn as a funding mechanism and to encrypt their messages, will be discussed. National security as it pertains to illegal immigration, terrorism and disease will also be explored.
Tony Nassif, founder and president of The Cedars Cultural and Educational Foundation, which is sponsoring the event, said it is up to the church to combat the satanic strategy of human trafficking and abuse of children.
“The church is the major hope for three reasons,” he said. “The church is drawn by a passion. The church is the most cost-effective. And it is the largest grass-roots movement the world has ever known.”
Scripture, he said, mandates that Christians take care of the vulnerable and they are also the best equipped to disciple people away from the moral degradation that is fueling insidious sex crimes.
“The moral collapse of this country is feeding the demand,” he said.
While highlighting the dangers of the abuse issues, the conference will offer solutions to help protect loved ones will be offered.
The event begins at 5:30 p.m. Friday with a film screening. Saturday’s conference will include a variety of speakers and a banquet lunch. The event concludes Sunday with a focus on human trafficking training.
Sharing their stories
Other speakers include Noreen Gosch, mother of kidnap victim Johnny Gosch. Although her son escaped his captors 15 years after he was taken, he lives underground and has no contact with his family out of concerns for his own safety.
Ric Lumbard of the Center to Restore Trafficked and Exploited Children will discuss his center’s modeling restoration and re-humanization of trafficked children from a faith-based perspective.
Judy Reisman, a worldwide expert on porn, will reveal porn’s devastating impact on children, families and the nation, while Alicia Kozakiewicz will share how she was lured on the Internet and held captive.
According to figures presented by The Cedars Cultural and Educational Foundation, 800,000 children are reported missing in America annually, with some estimates as high as 1.3 million. The number of children involved in prostitution is estimated at between 1 and 2 million.
“Where are they getting the children?” Nasiff said.
The threat in California, considered a portal, is real, with some gangs engaging in human trafficking of women and children for commercial sexual exploitation, and with others being abducted and taken to Mexico in a crime that is called “reverse trafficking.”
The Internet, according to Nassif’s group, has fueled the abuse crisis with child porn now the fastest growing content on the Internet, prompting the FBI to say it’s losing the war against the crime against children. Because of its popularity, extremists are using porn sites to raise money, he said.
Many times, child abduction is organized through large networks, as was the case in the Gosch kidnapping.
Nassif said Christians can no longer ignore the issue and hope someone else will step in.
“He will not do for us what He has commanded for us to do,” he said, adding that the Lord gave him a clear to use when people ask why God would allow such evil to happen: “You tell them, from me, ‘That’s my question for you. I’ve given you everything you need to destroy this problem. I’ve given you the government, I’ve given you money, I’ve given you a judicial system, I’ve given you my Spirit, I’ve given you my Word, I’ve given you my blood, which overcomes evil.”
Early registration is $59, or $79 at the door.
For more information, visit www.preventingabuse.org or call toll free at 1-866-454-1776.
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